Rideau St. closure adds to downtown traffic woes

Friday, August 28, 2015, 7:25 AM

For the second time this week, downtown Ottawa drivers are finding more major road closures due to construction.

Some Rideau Street business owners are worried about the lane reduction that began Friday, while some are hoping for increased foot traffic.

Rideau Street is now closed to regular traffic from Sussex Dr. to Dalhousie St. — although one lane will be open for buses, taxis and delivery and construction vehicles — as part of ongoing work on the O-Train Confederation Line light rail transit project.

Chris Mifflen, the general manager of Highland Pub, said a less-than-a week notice from the city about the length of the road closure, which is expected to be closed for regular traffic until spring 2018, was not enough.

“We were absolutely surprised,” he said. “This is the city’s busiest street ... it doesn’t make sense.”

His business has already been affected this summer by the ongoing construction, since customers are not able to enjoy the pub’s patio amid the noise and dust, Mifflen said.

“Last year, our patio was absolutely full from Thursday to Sunday ... this year, you’re lucky to have even 10 people there,” he added. “It’s an extreme traffic change.”

But Charbel Karakouzian, a co-owner of 3Brothers restaurant, said while the less-than-a week notice may be short, it does not affect his business as the sidewalk is still open and the buses and taxis are still moving through the street.

Karakouzian added the construction is needed to grow as a city.

“We need LRT ... we’re the capital of Canada,” he said.

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury said the city of Ottawa is keeping the businesses on Rideau Street updated on the construction project.

The short notice about the length of the road closure was unavoidable due to working out the details under a tight deadline, in order to “pull it altogether” before the Labour Day weekend and start of the new school year, Fleury said.

He added there shouldn’t be a problem in accessing the Market or the businesses on Rideau Street.

“Unless you’re in a car ... there’s a very little change to you impact to you,” Fleury said.

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Elsewhere in the city, several other well-travelled routes have either closed, or added lane restrictions, this week.

• A section of the westbound lane of Sir George-Etienne Cartier Pkwy. will be reduced while crews inspect an underground gas pipeline. One hundred metres of the parkway will be reduced at Hillsdale Rd. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The parkway is likely to stay this way until Oct. 2, according to the National Capital Commission. A 400-metre stretch of bike/pedestrian pathway is also closed from Hillsdale Rd. to Tennis Cres.

• Drivers using Nicholas St. will have to deal with additional lane reductions on the road, which has already been under construction. Crews have reduced the northbound lanes on Nicholas St., to allow for work on University of Ottawa ducts which must be moved for the LRT project. This expands the road work already at Nicholas and Mann Ave. For three months, lane reductions are expected between the Campus Transit Station and the south end of Waller St.

But it’s not all bad news. The Macdonald-Cartier Bridge rehabilitation project is expected to end Friday night.